
Book_.:J-Mll 



UNVEILING OF THE 
STATUE 

OF 

JOHN PAUL JONES 



o 






WASHINGTON 
APRIL 17, 1912 




SECRETARY OF THE NAVY MEYER INTRODUCING THE SPEAKERS AT THE 
UNVEILING OF THE JOHN PAUL JONES STATUE APRIL 17. 1912. 



UNVEILING OF THE 
STATUE 



OF 



JOHN PAUL JONES 



& 



WASHINGTON 
APRIL 17, 1912 






DESCRIPTION OF EXERCISES. 

The John Paul Jones Statue Commission selected the site, sculptor, 
and design for the memorial statue, and had charge of the ceremonies of 
its unveiling April 17, 1912. Invitations were issued and cards of admis- 
sion mailed as acceptances were received. 

Three elaborate stands in open square faced the memorial and tidal 
basin. The north stand occupied by the speakers and distinguished 
guests faced south. After the unveiling exercises the President passed 
through this stand, stood at the north side thereof, and reviewed the cere- 
monial parade which moved southward on Seventeenth Street to the 
reviewing stand, turned eastward into Basin Drive, and thence to Four- 
teenth Street, where it disbanded. 

The north stand was roofed over, the east and west stands were uncov- 
ered, and all were handsomely decorated with flags, shields, garlands, 
and palms. The United States Marine Band occupied a raised platform 
south of the monument in the open court between the stands. Officers, 
sailors, and marines were posted at intervals around the square and gave 
a naval appearance to the scene. Launches were stationed in the landing 
basin. The statue faced north and was draped with the Stars and 
Stripes; the pylon was covered with a white canopy. A steel wire rope 
was stretched taut above the monument in a horizontal east and west 
line and to this rope were led halliards to hoist the ensigns draping the 
statue, signal flags, and the blue flag of a rear admiral, resembling in 
appearance a "dressed ship" at anchor. Over the north stand, directly 
above the President's box, on staffs floated the National Ensign, the 
President's flag, the flag of the Secretary of the Navy, and the flag of the 
Admiral of the Navy. There were present the Statue Commission, the 
French ambassador. United States Senators and Representatives, emi- 
nent oflficers of the Army and Navy, representatives of patriotic societies, 
and prominent men and women of the Nation. 

The Secretary of the Navy, Hon. George von Lengerke Meyer, pre- 
sided and introduced the speakers of the day. 

The silence was broken by the clear voice of Rev. Charles Wood, who 
offered the invocation. 

The Secretary of the Navy in felicitous words presented the eminent 
Gen. Horace Porter, who spoke eloquently of his discovery and identifi- 
cation of the body of John Paul Jones and the force and value of his 
character. The admiral of the Navy unveiled the statue by pulling a 

3 



4 UNVEIUNG OF THE STATUE OF JOHN PAUI. JONES. 

cord attached to the toggle, a miniature gold sword, and the two ensigns 
were slowly drawn aloft. Signal flags spelling "John Paul Jones," 
"1747-1792" and "United States" were displayed. The blue flag of a 
rear-admiral was hoisted directly over the center of the pylon after the 
statue was unveiled, a signalman on the roof of the north stand wig- 
wagged "fire" to the Mayflower and Dolphin in the Potomac River 
abreast the basin, and a 21 -gun salute, the national salute, thundered 
over the river and hills and city. 

The President's brief and earnest address was warmly applauded. At 
its close four large wreaths were placed upon the pedestal of the statue 
by the President of the United States, by a representative of the National 
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, by a representa- 
tive of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and 
by a representative of the Grand Lodge F. A. A. M., District of Columbia. 

Rev. William T. Russell pronounced the benediction and the program 
of speaking was ended. 

The order of exercises was executed substantially without variation in 
a continuous heavy fall of rain. 

The military and naval forces were under the command of the grand 
marshal, Brig. Gen. Robert K. Evans, United States Army, aided by 
Capt. G. V. H. Moseley, chief of staff, with naval aides, Commander 
Archibald H. Davis, Lieut. Commander Richard D. White, Lieut. Robert 
Henderson; Army aides, Maj. Leroy W. Herron, National Guard, District 
of Columbia; Capts. Frank R. McCoy and Monroe C. Kerth, General 
Staff; Second Lieut. Edwin St. J. Greble, Third Field Artillery. 

Capt. Herbert O. Dunn, United States Navy, commanded the naval 
forces, which included the brigade of midshipmen under Lieut. Com- 
mander L. M. Nulton, with the Naval Academy Band at the head, a 
battalion of sailors, a brigade of naval militia of the District of Columbia 
under Lieut. John Downes, with the Navy Yard Band at the head. 

The Army forces included a battalion of Engineers; a battalion of 
Coast Artillery; the First Squadron, Fifteenth United States Cavalry; the 
Second Battalion, Third Field Artillery; the First Battery, District of 
Columbia National Guard; and the National Guard, District of Columbia, 
including the separate battalion of colored troops. 



PRAYER OF REV. CHARLES WOOD. 

Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of Hosts. Through all the ages hast 
Thou, the captain of our salvation, led the armies of light against the 
hosts of darkness. Thou hast taught the hands of men to war and their 
fingers to fight with injustice, oppression, cruelty and wrong. As we 
come to praise Thee, and one of the great men whom Thou didst raise up 
and by whom Thou hast made this Republic great, we pray that Thou 
wilt continue mercifully to bless us as Thou didst ever bless our fathers. 
Graciously remember our President and all who are in official positions, 
the officers and men of our Army and Navy, and the entire people of these 
United States. 

To-day we thank Thee for Thy servant whose heroic patriotism is com- 
memorated in this statue, which we here unvail. We bless Thee for his 
supreme devotion to duty, for his indomitable courage, for his indiffer- 
ence to danger, for his fearlessness in the face of death, and for his unhesi- 
tating decision to fall fighting rather than surrender. We pray that we 
may have his spirit in the warfare to which we are trumpet called against 
public and private vice and corruption. May we have courage like his to 
fling our defiance to the haughty demands of tyranny, whether of the 
world, the flesh, or the devil. 

May this statue speak with subtle and irresistible eloquence to the multi- 
tudes who shall pass by and gaze upon it. May they hear a voice from 
these closed lips, calling them to the love of country, and to the love of 
humanity even to that last full measure of devotion, such as thrilled our 
sad hearts when men we knew and honored yielded their only chance of 
life to women and children and sank with the ship without a cry. We 
thank Thee, O God, for all such men of the past and present, and for our 
confidence that their monuments shall stand forever unshaken in the 
grateful memory of humanity. Amen. 

S 



ADDRESS OF GEN. PORTER. 

The Secretary of the Navy, Hon. George von Lengerke 
Meyer, introduced the general in the following words: 

Mr. President, we are assembled here to-day to honor the 
memory of John Paul Jones, of the United States Navy, 
who rendered conspicuously gallant service in the long war 
which gave us national life. He won victories imder 
adverse circumstances on account of his great skill and 
sublime cotirage, and he gave the American Navy its 
earliest traditions of heroism and glory. He was an enthu- 
siastic supporter of the Republic, a gallant officer, a brave 
man and true. 

The first address to-day will be delivered by one to whom 
we are indebted for his careful work in collecting evidence 
of the burial of Jones in the cemetery of St. Louis in Paris, 
and, finally, the discovery and identification of his body. 
The work was carried on under the supervision of French 
officials, scholars, savants, archivists, and anthropologists, 
and mathematicians have decided that the evidence is 
positive. 

Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen, I have the 
honor to present our distinguished citizen, diplomat, and 
former ambassador to France, Gen. Horace Porter. 

In the heart of the Nation's Capital, in the presence of the Chief Magis- 
trate of the Repubhc, and of this vast assemblage of representative 
citizens, we meet to dedicate a statue in honor of a hero who was the 
leading historic figure in the early annals of the American Navy. This 
enduring bronze will testify that his name is not a dead memory, but a 
living reality. It will quicken our sense of appreciation and give assur- 
ance that the land upon whose history he shed so much luster is not 
forgetful of his services. 

The Capital City is to be congratulated upon this conspicuous and 
thoroughly meritorious addition to the art works that contribute to its 
embellishment. 

The life of John Paul Jones presents a series of such singular contrasts 
and strange vicissitudes that history surrounds him with an interest that 
attaches to but few of the world's celebrities. His rise from the humble 
master's apprentice to the command of conquering squadrons, his tran- 
sition from the low-born peasant boy to the favorite of imperial courts; 
crouching at times within the shadow of obscurity, at other times stand- 
ing on the highest pinnacle of fame; exhibiting the fierce temerity of the 
6 




GENERAL HORACE PORTER EULOGIZING JOHN PAUL JONES APRIL 17, 1912. 



UNVEILING OK THE STATUE OF JOHN PAUL JONES. 7 

ancient sea kings combined with the knightly courtesy of mediaeval 
chivalry; now the rugged sailor striving desperately against overwhelm- 
ing odds at sea, again the accomplished courtier arrayed in the height of 
fashion, displaying an easy manner and marked elegance in the brilliant 
salons of the most polite courts of Europe; replying gracefully to the 
compliments of kings and princes in English, French, and Spanish; 
showing that he could tread the polished floor of a royal palace as becom- 
ingly as the blood-stained deck of a man-of-war — these are some of the 
features of his marvelous career that fascinate the minds of all who 
make a study of his life. 

The victory that covered the earth with his renown was when he 
sailed forth in the Bonhomme Richard — the frail merchant ship he had 
hurriedly converted into a man-of-war, equipped with condemned guns, 
whose explosion early decimated his crew — to attack the Serapis, a 
superior British ship just off her own shores; his vessel soon a wreck 
and sinking, most of his guns disabled, half of his motley crew of Ameri- 
cans and French lying about him dead or dying, the scuppers running 
with human blood, his ship a charnel house, over 200 prisoners confined 
in the hold rushing up from their prison and attacking the remnant of 
his exhausted crew, his own consort, even, with her treacherous captain, 
raking his vessel with her fire, flame and smoke issuing from the lower 
deck filled with splinters, the mad carnage raging till it seemed that hell 
itself had usurped the place of earth, the undaunted commander in the 
very thickest of the combat, hatless and begrimed with powder, the very 
incarnation of battle, preparing to lead a boarding party and try this 
one desperate chance of success, and when asked by his antagonist, who 
saw his desperate condition, whether he had struck his flag, replying: 
"I've just begun to fight"! Then, by the inspiration of his example, 
forging weaklings into giants, capturing his opponent, snatching victory 
from defeat, and transferring his crew to his prize just in time to see 
his own ship sink beneath the waves with the flag still floating defiantly 
from the mast. 

Paul Jones never sailed in a man-of-war whose quarter-deck was 
worthy of being trodden by his feet. His battles were won, not by his 
ships, but by his genius. Employing the feeble vessels given him, or 
which he himself procured, he sailed forth boldly to strike the enemies 
of his country's liberty wherever he could find them, and paused not till 
he dipped the fringes of his banners in the home waters of the mistress 
of the seas. He captured 59 vessels from the foremost of naval powers, 
made four bold descents upon the land, seized large quantities of arms 
and military stores, destroyed more than a million dollars' worth of 
property on the sea, and took hundreds of prisoners, whose capture was 
used to force an exchange and release our men who were being slowly 
tortured to death in the loathsome, pestilential prison hulks in Brooklyn. 



8 UNVEIUNG OF THE STATUE OF JOHN PAUI, JONES. 

He was the very personification of *ralor. He ranked courage as the 
manhest of human attributes. He loved brave men ; he loathed dastards. 
He did not believe the Lord ever intended his works to be made manifest 
by cowards. He showed this trait in all the aphorisms he uttered, such 
as: "Boldness, not caution, wins"; "Men mean more than guns in the 
rating of ships" ; "I am not calculating risks, but estimating the chances 
of success " ; "The sources of success are quick resolve and swift stroke" ; 
"Bravery is that cheerful kind of spirit that makes a man unable to 
believe that there is any such word as 'danger' in the dictionary, or, if 
so, not able to see why it should be there." 

He was a many-sided man. On the water he was the wizard of the 
sea; on the land he showed himself an adept in the realms of diplomacy. 
While his exploits as a sailor eclipsed by their brilliancy his triumphs as a 
diplomat, he often proved himself a master both of the science of state- 
craft and the subtleties of diplomacy. He early urged upon the Govern- 
ment the policy of weakening the blockade so disastrous to the colonies, 
which were essentially commercial, by sending warships into Great 
Britain's home waters, attacking her vast commerce on the sea, com- 
pelling her to keep fleets at home to protect it, raiding her coasts, and 
bringing to her people an awakening sense of the realities of war in 
order that they might tire of it. He aimed to save his prizes, so that 
he could exhibit captured British warships in French ports, show the 
people the hopefulness of the cause of the colonies, stimulate the 
Government of that power, and encourage it to send armies and fleets 
to our relief. 

His chief diplomatic triumph was when he took the captured Serapis 
and Countess of Scarborough into the principal harbor of Holland for the 
express purpose of raising irritating questions regarding the rights of 
belligerent vessels in neutral ports and embroiling England in a war with 
Holland. He undertook this mission of his own initiative and against 
the advice of such experienced diplomatists as De Vauguyon, the French 
ambassador to Holland, and Dumas, the eminent international lawyer, 
and, by his ingenuity and the signal ability of his correspondence, he 
succeeded perfectly in his undertaking, and England soon had another 
foe arrayed against her. By a rare tact he escaped giving offense to 
Holland and at the same time avoided wounding the susceptibilities of 
France. 

Washington said of him, in a letter addressed to Congressman Hewes: 

Mr. Jones is clearly not only a master mariner within the scope of the art of navi- 
gation, but he also holds a strong and profound sense of the political and military 
weight of command at sea. 

Generosity was one of his cardinal virtues. For a long time he bore all 
his personal expenses and abstained from presenting demands for pay to 
our poverty-stricken Government. When in foreign seas he found that 
the Government regulations did not authorize the pay the handbills of 



UN VEILING OP THE STATUE OP JOHN PAUI^ JONES. 9 

overzealous recruiting officers had promised to his sailors, he paid the 
difiference out of his own pocket so that his gallant crew should not feel 
that they were victims of a deception. 

For one who lived in an age of loose morals and spent his youthful 
years amidst the temptations which then beset a seafaring man in the 
merchant service, he was singularly free from every form of dissipation. 
He had no fondness for revelry, jolly cofifee-house dinners, or drinking 
bouts, which formed the principal amusements in foreign ports. While 
others were carousing ashore, he was studying in his cabin, perfecting 
himself in history and languages, pondering upon the maneuvering of 
ships and the grand strategy of naval warfare, and paving the way for 
his future victories. 

He fashioned epigrams in prose and poetry. 

Mrs. Livingston, in speaking of him in her diary as a conversationalist, 
said : "He by turns delighted, amazed, and mystified us." 

The Duchess de Chartres wrote: "Not Bayard or Charles le Temeraire 
could have laid his helmet at a lady's feet with such knightly dignity." 

The Marquis de Vaudreuil, the French admiral with whom Paul Jones 
once made a voyage, said: "His talents are so wonderful and of such 
diversity that each day he brings forth some new proof of cleverness." 

Franklin spoke of the "strange magnetism of his presence, the inde- 
scribable charm of his manner." 

Notwithstanding the gravity of his nature, he at times displayed a wit 
that could cut the sting from the keenest criticism and gild disappointment 
with a pleasantry. 

But his heart was not often attuned to mirth; its chords were fre- 
quently set to strains of sadness. For years he was engaged in a struggle 
against insubordination, treachery, jealousy, neglect at home, and abuse 
abroad. The people against whom he fought opened their floodgates 
of calumny. No misrepresentation of his acts was too gross, no distor- 
tion of history too monstrous. These well-concerted attacks of the pen 
were intended to set him before the Old World in an aspect that was a 
vicious caricature of his true nature, and they even gave so erroneous an 
impression of him in this country that it has required a century of time to 
correct it. 

He is the only commander in history who ever landed an American 
force upon a European coast. 

He enjoyed the unique distinction of being the first to hoist the present 
form of our flag upon an American man-of-war, the first to receive a 
salute to it from a foreign power, the first to raise it upon a hostile war- 
ship of superior strength captured in battle, and under his command that 
banner was never once dethroned from its proud supremacy. 

The Board of Admiralty in its report to Congress in 1781 said: "He 
hath made the flagg of America respected among the flaggs of other 
nations." 



lO UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF JOHN PAUL JONES. 

Congress complimented him by a resolution, voted him a medal to 
commemorate his greatest victory, and awarded him the privilege of the 
floor of both Houses ; he received a similar favor from the Constitutional 
Convention; the people of this and other lands organized public demon- 
strations in his honor, France knighted him, Louis XVI presented him 
with a gold-mounted sword, Denmark pensioned him, Catharine of 
Russia created him an admiral, conferred upon him imperial decorations, 
and loaded him with marks of distinction. If he had lived a little longer 
he would in all probability have been named Admiral of France. The 
rugged sailor had compelled the recognition of genius; the Scottish 
peasant boy had broken down the barriers of caste. 

• Worn out by the fatigues of arduous service, at the untimely age of 45, 
alone in a foreign land, he surrendered to death, the only foe to whom he 
ever lowered his colors. 

«•- In Hfe he had been counted one of the rarest contributions to earth's 
contingent of master spirits. He was perhaps the most conspicuous 
personage on two continents, and yet the moment he was placed beneath 
the ground some strange fate seemed to decree that he was to be snatched 
from history and relegated to fiction. No inscription was engraved upon 
his coffin, no statue was erected in his honor, no ship was given his name, 
no public building was called after him. It required six years of research 
to find the apartment in which he had lived in Paris and held his brilliant 
salons, which were attended by the foremost celebrities of the period, and 
as long a time to discover his unmarked and forgotten grave. 

When finally his exact place of burial in the St. Louis Cemetery for 
foreign Protestants had been definitely located by authentic documents 
and other positive evidence, the ground exhibited so repulsive an appear- 
ance that the aspect was painful beyond expression. There was pre- 
sented the spectacle of a hero, who had once been the idol of the American 
people, lying for more than a century, like an obscure outcast, in an aban- 
doned cemetery, which had been covered later by a dump pile to a height 
of 15 feet, where dogs and horses had been buried, and the soil was 
soaked with polluted waters from undrained laundries. No American 
citizen, upon contemplating on the spot these painful circumstances, 
could have shrunk from an attempt to secure for his remains a more 
deserving sepulcher. 

There was authentic documentary proof that the corpse had been 
placed in a leaden coffin. When the body was exhumed it was fortu- 
nately found perfectly preserved, with all the flesh intact, in consequence 
of having been buried in such a coffin filled with alcohol — the usual 
method of embalming in those days. It resembled the anatomical 
specimens preserved in jars of alcohol that one sees in medical museums. 
There were only five leaden coffins in the entire cemetery, three of which 
were fully identified by inscription plates giving names and dates; the 
fourth contained a body 7 inches longer than that of Paul Jones. While 



UNVEIUNG OF THE STATUE OF JOHN PAUI. JONES. II 

the features of the body in the fifth coffin, which was of superior work- 
manship to the others and of heavier lead, were easily recognizable when 
compared with the accurate bust, medals, and portraits of Paul Jones, 
and the identity was convincing from the first, yet it was deemed prudent, 
on account of the importance of the subject, to submit the body to a 
thorough scientific examination by the most competent experts in the 
profession of anthropology, in order that the proofs might be authori- 
tatively established and officially placed on record. For this purpose, 
the body was taken to the Paris School of Medicine. 

It was hardly expected that an inscription plate would be found upon 
the coffin. As the death of the admiral occurred on a day when the vio- 
lence of the French Revolution was at its height, and the streets were 
filled with idlers and excited crowds of workmen, it is likely that, even 
if his friends had prepared a fitting inscription, no engravers could have 
been found to make a plate. 

The most eminent scientists of France contributed their efforts to the 
task of identifying the body, in the presence of the officers of the American 
embassy, and the consulate, and the highest officials of the municipality 
of Paris. 

These distinguished investigators were not paid experts; they cheer- 
fully gave their services gratuitously, purely in the interest of science 
and as an act of comity between two friendly nations in solving an 
important historical problem. Their official and professional respon- 
sibiHty, their disinterestedness, and the fact that their established 
reputations were at stake, gave abundant guaranty that the service 
would be faithfully and impartially performed. The following is a list 
of the persons who participated in verifying the identification of the body 
and certifying thereto. 

The American Ambassador. 

Henry Vignaud, first secretary of the American embassy, commander 
of the Legion of Honor and a distinguished writer. 

John K. Gowdy, American consul general. 

Col. A. Bailly-Blanchard, second secretary of the American embassy, 
ex-aid-de-camp to the governor of Louisiana, officer of the Legion of 
Honor, officer of Public Instruction. 

M. Justin de Selves, prefect of the Seine, grand officer of the Legion of 
Honor, since Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

M. Louis Lepine, prefect of poHce, ex-governor general of Algiers, 
grand officer of the Legion of Honor. 

Dr. J. Capitan, professor in the school of anthropology, member of the 
Committee of Historic and Scientific Works (ministry of public instruc- 
tion), member of the municipal commission of Old Paris, member of the 
Society of Megalithic Monuments, member of a number of foreign scien- 
tific societies, ex-president of the Society of Anthropology of Paris, 



12 UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF JOHN PAUL JONES. 

officer of Public Instruction, author, of more than 250 monographs, 
memoirs, etc., on medical and other scientific subjects. 

Dr. Georges Papillault, assistant director of the laboratory of anthro- 
pology in the school for advanced studies, professor in the school of 
anthropology, officer or member of several learned societies at home and 
abroad, and author of numerous scientific articles, a scientist of rare 
experience in the examination and identification of human bodies. 

Dr. George Herve, professor in the school of anthropology, ex-president 
of the Society of Anthropology of Paris, and author of many mono- 
graphs and volumes on this subject. 

Dr. A. Javal, physician to the ministry of public instruction; laureate 
of the school of medicine. 

M. J. Pray, chief architect of the prefecture of police, officer of public 
instruction. 

M. Paul Weiss, engineer of the quarries of the Seine, doctor of laws. 

In addition to the above, the services were secured of Dr. V. Cornil, 
the eminent microscopist, professor of pathologic anatomy of the Paris 
School of Medicine. 

There now took place one of the most scientific, painstaking, and con- 
scientious examinations conceivable, which resulted in placing, beyond 
any possibility of doubt, the identification of the body submitted. 

Among the convincing points of evidence may be mentioned : 

The finding of the body in the place where authentic documents 
described it as having been buried in a leaden coffin. 

The striking resemblance of the features to those of the medal by 
Dupre, voted by Congress and executed under the personal supervision 
of Paul Jones in Paris. 

The perfect agreement of measurements with those of the Trocadero 
copy of the well-known life-size bust of Paul Jones by Houdon, which 
Jefferson, Madison, and Sherburne pronounced an exact likeness. 

A photograph of the head of the corpse and of the Houdon bust made 
upon the same scale and on transparent paper which, when placed one 
upon the other, showed a perfect coincidence of the contours of the face, 
the line of demarcation of the hair, etc. 

The de Biron bust, believed to be the work also of Houdon, was sub- 
mitted but not used for comparative measurement, as it was less than 
life size. 

The length of the body agreed with the admiral's stature. 

The linen shirt found upon it of fine workmanship with plaits and ruffles, 
corresponding to the admiral's fondness for elegance in dress. There was 
nothing else in the coffin except the hay and straw packing and a shroud, 
consisting of a winding sheet, verifying the description that the admiral 
was "buried in a shroud without uniform, or trappings of any kind." 

A peculiar formation of the ear identical with that on the bust. 



UNVEIUNG OF THE STATUE OF JOHN PAUIy JONES. 1 3 

The color of the hair and manner of wearing it, combed back and 
curled in rolls on the temples, such as is seen on several medallions 
representing him in full dress. The hair has been carefully arranged 
for burial apparently by a competent hairdresser. 

No mark of any wound. Reliable biographers agree that the admiral 
was never wounded. 

Condition of the teeth compatible with those of a man of his age. 

His monogram composed of a P and a J embroidered on the linen. 

The autopsy by Dr. Capitan, in which sections were made, and exam- 
ined microscopically, of the vital organs which had been well preserved 
by the alcohol in which they had been steeped in the coffin, showing 
nothing particularly characteristic in the heart, liver, and right lung, 
the left lung exhibiting with the greatest exactness the marks of broncho- 
pneumonia, resulting from an attack of that malady, which records 
state was contracted in Russia three years before his death; the swollen 
legs caused by dropsy from which he had suffered for some time; the 
kidneys exhibiting the fibrous degeneracy of the glomeruli of Malpighi 
and other symptoms, which gave proof of chronic interstitial nephritis 
(Bright's disease), of which it is known he died. 

This autopsy, verifying completely the clinical history of his last 
disease and death, made after so great a lapse of time, attracted much 
interest, and Dr. Capitan received many congratulations from his col- 
leagues of the medical profession. The only disfigurement upon the 
face was caused by the cartilaginous portion of the nose having been 
bent over to the right side and pressed down. This was clearly due to 
the fact that, when the body was put in the coffin, some of the hay and 
straw packing had been laid across the face, an excess of it had been 
placed under the head, and the hair, about 30 inches long, had been 
gathered into a linen cap at the back. This raised the face so high that 
the cartilaginous portion of the nose was pressed out of shape by the 
coffin lid. At the angle at which the photograph of the head of the 
corpse was taken the distorted cartilaginous portion of the nose, seen in 
profile, makes that feature look as if it might have been Roman in shape, 
by giving to the bridge, which had not been crushed, an unnatural 
prominence. Prof. Papillault says in his official report that the form 
of the nose depends a great deal on the cartilage. That on the bust 
this is undulating and the bony part of it on the corpse is perfectly com- 
patible with that form. As a consequence of a week's exposure to the 
air, it was seen that the skin had shrunk and the lips had contracted, 
showing the edges of the teeth, which were not visible at first. The 
internal organs were then restored to the thorax and the corpse, with 
the linen, was replaced in the coffin, which was put in a leaden casket. 
This was hermetically sealed and incased in an oaken coffin. 

The 12 Americans and Frenchmen who participated in the identifi- 
cation, after six days passed in the application of every conceivable 



14 UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF JOHN PAUI. JONES. 

test, gave their affirmative verdict, which was positive, absolute, and 
unanimous, and was formally certified to under the official seals of their 
respective departments, as may be seen from their detailed reports^ 
enlarged photographs of the vital organs, etc., filed with the Govern- 
ment, both in Paris and in Washington. After the recognition of the 
identity by both Governments, the body was transported to America 
for permanent burial at Annapolis. 

When Congress adopted the present form of the American flag, it 
embodied in the same resolution the appointment of Capt. John Paul 
Jones to command the ship Ranger. When he received the news, history 
attributes to him this remark: "The flag and I are twins; born the same 
hour from the same womb of destiny, we can not be parted in life or in 
death." Alas, they were parted during 113 years, but, happily, they are 
now reunited. 

It was deemed well to bring back his body in the belief that it would 
bring back his memory. Living, he dwelt in the affection of his con- 
temporaries; dead, he is enshrined in the hearts of their posterity. 

When he passed the portals of eternity, earth mourned one hero less. 
In him the simplicity of the rugged sailor was mingled with the heroic 
grandeur of his nature. Wherever blows fell thickest his crest was in 
their midst. The story of his life rises to the sublimity of an epic, the 
recital of his deeds is worthy of the contemplation of the ages. He was 
the untitled knight of the blue waters, the wrathful Achilles of the ocean, 
the conqueror of the conquerors of the sea. The recollection of his 
deeds will never cease to thrill men with the splendor of events and 
inspire them with the majesty of achievement. 

Yonder statue, which so well portrays his historic features, is the 
tribute of a grateful country. It will serve to recall the record of imper- 
ishable deeds and perpetuate a name which deserves to be immortal. 
Its mute eloquence will plead for equal sacrifice should war again threaten 
the Nation's life. 

We may fittingly apply to this spot the words of Milton : 

Thither shall all the valiant youth resort, 
And from his memory inflame their breasts 
To matchless valor. 



ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT. 

Ladies and gentlemen, this monument preserves the memory of a 
Scotch boy who transferred his allegiance from Scotland to the United 
States, mastered the science of naval strategy, and furnished to our 
country the inspiration that has been felt for 130 years in our NavV) 
which is the pride of the Nation. 

He came to this country at the age of 12 as an apprenticed seaman. 
At 19 he became a chief mate, and at 21 the master of a ship. In 1775, 
at the age of 28, he was made a first lieutenant in the Navy of the 
United States. His career was no accident or the result of fortuitous 
circumstances. From a boy of 12 he gave his time to the study of his 
profession, and he made himself a sailor, a soldier, a commander, and a 
diplomat. He mastered three languages, and after he had reached 
manhood he made himself to know the ways of the men of the world, 
so that when he appeared at the courts of Europe he honored the 
country which he represented. 

It is fortunate for the Navy of the United States that it has such a 
hero to furnish the spirit to those who now make up its membership. 
The battle in which he had to take the deck of his antagonist to win 
the victory, as his own ship went down, will always stand out in the 
history of naval warfare as the greatest example of a victory won by 
the individual bravery and indomitable courage of a commander that 
has been known to the world. And now, when the Navy of this country 
has become so important a part of its Government, so essential to the 
maintenance by this country of its position before the world, it is fit 
that here, 133 years after that battle, a monument should be erected 
to its victor, dignified and beautiful as this one is, in the capital of the 
country that bears the name of the President who gave to this our hero 
the title of admiral. 

I can not end what I have to say without rendering a just tribute to 
the soldier, the statesman, and the diplomat, who, appreciating the 
place in American history that John Paul Jones ought to occupy, devoted 
his time, his energy, and his treasure to bringing the bones of this great 
naval hero to rest at Annapolis, and to inspiring the movement that 
erected the memorial of to-day. 

IS 

O 



LBJa'l3 



